Lord Mountbatten's great-granddaughter Maddison May Brudenell and her fiancé Bret Kapetanov introduce their baby son and talk about their upcoming wedding in an exclusive interview and photoshoot with HELLO!
Former Ralph Lauren model Maddison, 30, a third cousin of Princes William and Harry, tells us how the couple are looking forward to their big day month following a whirlwind romance that saw Bret, also 30, propose and move across the Atlantic within months of their first meeting.
"Our family feels complete," says Maddison, who was a mother-of-three and in the midst of a divorce when she met Canadian millwright Bret during a trip to visit friends in his hometown of Windsor, Ontario.
The baby's birth
Baby Michael Adam, who is named after Maddison's paternal grandfather, royal obstetrician Michael Brudenell, was born at the couple's home on 6 August weighing 8lb4oz. But the couple tell how Maddison and Michael were both rushed to hospital after the umbilical cord snapped following a 40-hour labour.
"I lifted him out of the water and held him to my chest, and then I heard a snap, it was very alarming," Maddison recalls. "Michael went white and then the midwives took over; then the ambulances and paramedics arrived."
Love at first sight
Maddison describes how, despite their different backgrounds, she and Bret, who grew up on a farm, felt a "magnetic" connection when he took her and children Daphne, seven, Phebe, five, and three-year-old Moses to the airport on their last day in Canada.
"Sparks were flying, and it felt impossible to resist that magnetic attraction between us. We were drawn together, and we kissed. It felt like true love," she says.
Bret's life in a farming community in Windsor, Ontario, is a world away from Maddison's, which has featured glitzy parties and fashion shows, and seen her stand alongside the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony at Trooping the Colour.
She was also a guest at Queen Elizabeth's funeral.
But the couple have bonded over their passion for sustainability and their Christian faith.
Bret says: "I knew a little bit about her background, with the royals and everything, but I didn't really pay it too much attention because I didn't think she'd be interested in a welder like myself."
Royal connections
Our shoot took place in an Oxfordshire mansion once owned by Maddison's grandparents - Lady Pamela Hicks, a cousin of the late Duke of Edinburgh and a bridesmaid and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II, and interior designer David Hicks. Meanwhile, Maddison's aunt is the designer and former model India Hicks.
Maddison tells how Lady Pamela is "very proud to call Bret her new grandson-in-law".
She adds: "He had a very different upbringing to me, working on the farm and going to work before school and after school. In that regard, he's a gentleman, and he knows how to treat a woman, and he knows how to respect his elders. He's shown Grandmama nothing but respect, and she holds him in high regard because of it.
"The marrying of our two worlds has been awesome. I didn't even know what a welder was when I met Bret, and he had never had any interest in fashion, but now he has been to shows with me and I enjoy being in Bret's workshop - I've even tried welding!
"Witnessing Bret as a father to baby Michael has made me even more excited to make my forever home with him. My dream of a joyful family really has come true and I can't wait to celebrate our life and love at our wedding next month."
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
